Straw With Tack for Mulch

[sixshooter]

Is this safe to mulch with? I don't even know what tack is. It says its safe for kids and pets. Any advice? I'm not a huge organic snob, I just don't want to hurt my veggies.

[rainbowgardener]

Had to look this one up; I'd never heard of it. Tack or tackifier is something to make the straw mulch tacky or sticky. It's basically some kind of adhesive so that your mulch bonds to the soil and stays put instead of blowing/washing away. Initially it was done with petroleum based/ asphalt fibers. These days tack is usually organic fibers, guar gum or others (guar gum is used in food products). So you'd want to find out what the tackifier is, but chances are it is organic and safe.

The next question would be do you want your mulch bonded to your soil? It seems like this is usually done for large scale, farm or commercial, applications. It would seem to make it harder to move the mulch out of the way to plant, transplant, etc. I have to assume that a specialized product like this would be significantly more expensive than just getting the straw. You could usually get stable bedding, straw + horse manure free by going to a stable. If they haven't composted it, it would still need composting, but it would be free and have fertilizer attached instead of adhesive.

[sixshooter]

thanks for the info rainbowgardener!

my dad runs a brickpaving business and uses the straw with tack to grow grass around areas he tears up when laying bricks. he gave me a package of it and I was aprehensive about using it, but it sounds like I don't have any worries. again thank you and cheers RG